Page 103 of A Matter of Time

I started singing “Then Came You,” and she laughed at me before she joined in, singing along with me at the top of her lungs. When I dried my hands on my jeans and held out my hand to her, she took it, and then we were moving around the kitchen together. I saw Regina smiling and noted the fall of Thomas’ shoulders as he calmed. I surrendered her to Mitch when the song changed and returned to my dishes. Rachel and Regina sang along with Aretha Franklin and me as they helped.

“Ooh, Jory, look at you move, honey,” Rachel cooed, watching me dance next to the sink. “Somebody’s missing out.”

I arched a brow for her and she smacked my ass.

“Hey.”

I turned at his voice; Sam was standing at the back door.

“Can you come here for a second?”

“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Excuse me, ladies.”

When I was within reach, he grabbed a handful of my sweater and pulled me close.

“I wanna go now, okay?”

“Sure. Why?”

“Why?”

“Yeah, why?”

“’Cause I just realized something.”

“What’s that?”

His jaw clenched. “I’m better at home.”

“You are home.”

“No, our home.”

Our home? God, the things that came out of the man’s mouth. “Okay.”

He put his hand on the side of my neck and leaned his forehead against mine.

“Thanks for keeping me grounded today. I have trouble when I’m here. My family expects me to be one way, so I am.”

I had no idea what that meant. His family wanted him to be a hothead? That made no sense.

“It’s hard to be here sometimes.”

I just took a deep breath, closing my eyes, enjoying his closeness and how he didn’t seem to want to move away from me.

He bumped my jaw with his nose, tilting my head as he buried his face in the side of my neck, inhaling me. “You’re definitely good for me.”

I trembled because I couldn’t help it.

As he pulled back, he rubbed his cheek along mine. “I’ll get your coat, all right?”

“Yessir.”

“Say goodbye to my mom.”

“I will.”

“Knock it off. What time do I need to drop you off at work in the morning?”